Rail-joint.



W. H. GAITHER.

RAIL JOINT. I APPLICATION FILED JULY 9, 1912.

1 ,0 39 5 1 O Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

FIG. 1v

FIG. 2

WILLIAM H. GAITHER, OF THOMAS, WEST VIRGINIA.

RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

Application filed July 9, 1912. Serial No. 708,403.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. GAITHER, citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Thomas, in the county of Tucker and State of WVestVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRail-Joints, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to rail joints, and the objects of my inventionare to provide a novel rail chair for supporting the confronting orabutting ends of rails whereby said rails cannot become accidentallydisplaced, and to obviate the necessity of using detachable splice-bars,bolts and nuts for connecting the confronting ends of rails.

Other objects of my invention are to provide a rail chair that can beeasily and quickly installed by unskilled labor and connected to woodenties or other supports, and to accomplish the above results by amechanical construction, that is simple, durable, inexpensive tomanufacture and highly efficient for the purposes for which it isintended.

IVith the above and other objects in view,

the invention resides in a novel construction to be hereinafterspecifically described and then claimed, and reference will now be hadto the drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of the rail joint.Fig. 2 is a plan of the same partly broken away and partly in section,and Fig. 3 is an end View of the rail joint.

Further describing my invention with reference to the drawing whereinlike numerals denote corresponding parts throughout: 1 and 2 denote theconfronting or abutting ends of rails and embracing these rails, at theends thereof, is a rail chair, comprising a tie plate 3 that hasintegral rail braces 4t engaging the sides of the rails 1 and 2. The tieplate 3 has lateral extensions 5 that are secured to ties 6 by spikes 7or other fastening means. It is in connection with these splice-bars orbraces 4 to which I attach considerable importance, as these bracesprevent vertical and lateral displacement of the rails 1 and 2. Byreference to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be observed that the confrontingwalls of the splice-bars or braces 4;, at the ends thereof, are beveled,as at 8 and this construction has a twofold purpose. First, the rails 1and 2 are easily placed in the ends of the rail chair, and second, theconfronting or abutting ends of the rails are engaged by the confrontingwalls of the braces or splice-bars 4, while the outer ends of the bracesor splice-bars are removed from the rails to such a degree that thechair can be readily used upon a curved section of a track.

From the drawing it will be observed that I have devised a novel railchair that distributes the weight of rails and rolling stock upon morethan one tie, and it is in this connection, that I reserve the right tomake the chair of any desired length and of a size to accommodate railsof various weights.

What I claim is In a rail joint, the combination with the confrontingends of rails, and ties, of a rail chair mounted upon said ties andembracing the confronting ends of said rails, said chair comprising atie plate having lateral flanges secured to said ties, braces formedintegral with said tie plate and engaging the sides of said rails, saidbraces havin the confronting sides thereof beveled and removed from saidrails with the intermediate portion of said braces engaging the webs ofsaid rails.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM H. GAITHER.

Witnesses:

L. E. SHAHAN, GEORGE MARTIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

